CRESAPTOWN — No. 5 Calvary dominated Bishop Walsh on Tuesday, amassing 21 aces in total during the serving game. The scores were 25-15, 25-17, and 25-14 for the Eagles (15-6). John Wall, the head coach of Calvary, observed, “We started out a little slow.” It is imperative that we always give it our all on the field. We saw a number of out-of-system plays in the opening game tonight.
We were aware that we had to use our strategy in the second and third games.” Calvary led the opening set 15–6, but the Spartans (1–5) responded with a 6-3 run that narrowed the lead to 18–12. Bishop Walsh received three assists from Ella Riley during the run. The Eagles answered, closing the set with a 7-3 surge that was completed off with Madie Robinette.
Taking a firm lead
With nine kills, eight assists, five digs, and four aces, Robinette had a strong finish. Khushi Rathod’s kill in the second set gave the Spartans an early 2-1 lead after Rachel Wharton’s assist. Calvary took a firm lead thanks to two Bishop Walsh blunders and a kill from Arabella DeValk.
DeValk finished with an ace, four digs, and fourteen assists. Calvary embarked on an 11-2 run to take the lead at 15-5 with the Eagles leading 4-3. “We called a timeout to emphasize, it doesn’t matter what the score is,” Wall stated. “We must play with intensity from beginning to end. We didn’t do it in the first game, I believe.”
Hope Potts scored four of the Eagles’ five points off of aces. Potts appeared to be successful while hitting low, line drive serves with a lot of force and pace. “For Hope, that’s her style,” Wall stated. “Every player has a little bit of a different serve.”
Calvary won on a service error to close out the set with a 10-2 lead. In set three, Bishop Walsh jumped out to an early lead, just like in the second. The Spartans took a 2-1 lead thanks to a Grace Elliott ace and a service error. Reagan Getz hit two consecutive aces to give the Eagles a 4-3 lead.
Ending the game
Paula Ganoe led Calvary on a 13–1 run with her six aces. With six aces, six digs, and seven kills overall, Ganoe finished. “Paula put together a nice string of serves,” Wall stated. “We tried both of her serves tonight; she works with two. We experiment with little things here and there.” The Spartans, behind 17–4, closed the gap to five points at 18–13, but they were unable to draw any closer.
During BW’s run, Wharton and Elliott combined for three kills. Elliott contributed four kills and a block, while Wharton ended with six assists. Bishop Walsh made a mistake that led to match point, ending the game. “We still got a lot of games left in the season, we gotta put some consistency together,” Wall stated.
“We’ve had little struggles here and there, so we wanna make sure we put those struggles behind us.” Thursday at 7 p.m., the Eagles travel to No. 2 Northern (7-2).
“I’m hoping that our serves put us in the positive column,” Wall stated. “that we are able to put their passers on their heels with effective serves. Watch how well they pass, please.” Turkeyfoot Valley takes against the Spartans on Friday at 6 p.m.